Picturepocket's Blog

Tag: women

  • A Mighty Whine

    Today is the first day I have not had a cough in three weeks, maybe four. Being medium sick is such a drag, especially when you are a Mom. It was a head cold I got hit with on a Friday that ran the most of February. By week two, it settled into my lungs…

  • 1 Corinthians 16: Living Saints 

    In the last chapter of his letter, Paul encourages the church in Corinthian to put aside money to support the saints in Jerusalem and a talks about his missionary travel plans. Here, he uses the term “saints” not as a wall of dead icons, but living companions and ministers of the faith.  He asks the…

  • 1776

    One of the fiercest battle cries leading up to war of independence from Britain in the American colonies was “no taxation without representation.” America won the war and we will celebrate our Nation’s 250th birthday year. Yet, when our forefathers wrote up the new voting guidelines, they initially only included the English-speaking, white, land-owning Protestant…

  • 1 Corinthians 15: Seeds of Life

    In this chapter, Paul first affirms the bodily resurrection of Christ. He lists all the witnesses in order beginning with Cephas (Peter), then the disciples, the larger group of 500 followers, James, the apostles and then himself, counting his vision of Christ. He acknowledges himself the least of the fellowship because of his participation in…

  • 1 Corinthians 14: Words & Women

    Paul returns from his celebration of love to the gift of prophecy, speaking truths, and tongues, utterances in other languages or unknown words. Paul says that prophecy instructs and consoles the Church while praying in tongues encourages the spirit. There are groups within Christianity today that either over-emphasize or deny the use of tongues in…

  • Finding Peace with Paul

    Finding Peace with Paul

    When I went to graduate school two decades ago, it was through a program where I taught English overseas during the school year and studied at home in the summer. Neat, right? I did all the courses to graduate, but at the end, I still needed three prerequisite Bible courses that the Christian college required,…

  • Wild Mombot

    I watched the movie Wild Robot with my kids yesterday evening after dinner. It’s beautifully rendered, but am I the only one to relate to the robot when it comes to raising kids?  In the movie, if you haven’t seen it, a robot is accidentally dumped into the sea, and washes up on an island…

  • Romans 4: Free Riders

    In this chapter, Paul is using the people and events of the Old Testament to illustrate tension between following the law and accepting the forgiveness from Jesus Christ. The issue he is addressing here is that those with a Jewish background who had accepted the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, but were upset when people of…

  • Acts 12: Fear, Faith & Flattery

    In case we forget about King Herod, he has James the brother of John killed with a sword. This gets him a positive reaction from the established religious leaders, so he arrests Peter too. Herod holds him in jail during the holiday of the Unleavened Bread while the believers desperately pray.  Despite four squads of…

  • Acts 8: Saul, Simon and The Spirit  

    With the stoning of Stephen, the gloves were off when it came to the burgeoning new church. The religious establishment were intent on crushing the beautiful new community of Jesus. Saul, a young Pharisee, entered private homes and dragged men and women off to prison. The believers scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Many of the…